General-utility transportation-car.



E. D. HILLMAN.

GENERAL UTILITY TRANSPORTATION UAR.

APPLICATION IILIJD APR.4,1911.

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E. D. HILLMAN.

GENERAL UTILITY TRANSPORTATION UAR. APPLICATION FILED APR.4.1911.

1 ,035,438. Patented Aug. 13,1912.

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E. D. HILLMAN. GENERAL UTILITY TRANSPORTATION OAR.

APPLICATION TILED APRA. 1911A Afro/mh UNITED `STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD D. HILLMAN, OF MOUNT VERNON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T BENJAMIN A. HEGEMAN, JR., OF NORTH PLAINFIELD, NEW JERSEY.

GENERAL-UTILITY TRANSPORTATION-CAR.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 13, 1912.

Application filed April 4, 1911. Serial No. 618,803.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD D. IIILLMAN,

i a citizen of the wUnited States, and a resiments in General-Utility Transportation Cars, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in general-utility transportation cars, and it consists in the novel features, arrangements and construction of parts hereinafter described, and particularly pointed out in the claims. Cars of this class are usually constructed of metal and the discharge doors at each side of the longitudinal center of the car are hinged at their inner ends to the centerframing or sills and extend outwardly to the sides of the car and constitute the main flooring for the car.

My invention pertains more particularly to means for operating, or opening, closing and controlling, the car-doors, and its object is to provide a novel construction, arrangement and disposition of parts rendering the operation and control of the doors highly efficient and the application, inspcction and repair of the door-operating meehanisms entirely convenient, and a further purpose of the invention is the entire removal of the door-operating mechanism from below the cars so that it may not only be readily inspected, painted and cared for, but not neglected without exposure of the fact and not subjected to the action of drippings from the material carried by the car or the accumulation of dirt arising from the roadbed. My invention also results in a simplication of the car structure, since the door-operating mechanism is exposed at y the sides of the car and secured externally side of the car, each set of said mechanism being connected with four connected doors.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference heilig had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly broken away, of a portion of the side of a generalutility transportation car, equipped with door operating mechanism embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the same on the dotted line 2-2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section, through a portion of the same, on the dotted line 3-3 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4t is an end view on a larger scale taken from the left hand end of Fig. 1 of a portion of the car and illustrating more particularly the means employed at the end of the door operating shaft for locking the same stationary; and Fig. 5 is a side elevation, on a reduced scale, of a car having eight discharge doors at each side of its longitudinal center and equipped with the mechanism embodying my invention, the doors being connected in series of four at each side of the car.

In the drawings, 10 designates a car to which my invention has been applied, 11 denoting the sides of the car, 12 the ends thereof, 13 the longitudinal center framing or sills, 14 the floor-doors, 15 the hinges at the inner ends thereof. 1G transverse plates constituting a part of the car-Hoor structure overlapping the side edges of the said doors more particularly when the doors are in their closed position, and 17 vertical angleplates or beams secured in pairs to the sides of the car in line with the floor-members between the side edges of adjacent doors, the longitudinal flanges 18 of each pair of said angle-plates being extended toward each other, whereby between the transverse flanges 19 of said plates are created vertical spaces within which parts of my dooroperating mechanism are secured and housed.

The doors 14k correspond with one another and each is of sheet metal flanged downwardly, as at 20, at its edges and provided y at its inner end with the hinges 15 by which the doors are secured to brackets 21 riveted to the center-framing or sills of the car. The outer edges of the doors 14 extend outwardly beyond the plate sides of the 'car and to about the vertical plane of the outer edges of the transverse flanges 19 of the angle plates 17, whereat said edges flange downwardly and have secured to them the Z-bar 22 which not only strengthens the outer edges of the doors but serves to conneet, in the present instance, four doors in series and affords means for receiving eyebolts 23, to which the lower ends of the links 24 constituting a portion of the door-operating mechanism are pivotally secured.

do not of course limit my invention to the connection of four doors 14 in series but in a car having eight doors at each side l deem it better practice to connect together the four doors at each side of the center at each side of the .car so that no undue strain may be required to actuate the door-operating mechanism.

rlhe door-Operating vmechanism comprises, for each set of doors, an operating shaft 25 whose inner end is bent ata right angle to form a crank-arm 26 and whose outer end extends to the end of the car and is equipped with certain locking mechanism hereinafter described, while said shaftbetween its ends and at points contiguous to the adjacent edges of each two doors is bent upwardly in inverted U-form to create what may for convenience be termed doublecrank-arms 27. The shaft- 25 is mounted in bearing brackets 28 secured against anglebars 29 fastened to the side of the car, and said brackets are formed from metal vbars each bent to form a horizontal loop member 30 and an upwardly extending flange 31 through which and the angle-bar 29 and the side of the car a securing bolt 32 eX- tends. rihe shaft 25 is confined in the outer ends ofthe loop-members 30 by filler-blocks 33 interposed between the upper and lower sides of said members and held therein by vertical bolts 34, which also aid in securing the brackets 2S to the angle-bars 29. lThe links 24 hereinbefore referred to as pivotally secured to the eye-bolts 23 are swiveled or hinged at. their upper ends on the upper or outer ends of the crank-arms 26, 27, the upper ends of said links being formed with eyes 35 permitting them to be strung on the operating-shaft. The lower `ends of the links 24 are forked or bifurcated to straddle the eyes of the eye-bolts 23 and apertured to ,y receive the pivot pins 36 connecting them with said bolts. The eye-bolts 23 have their eyes which receive the pins 36 below the floor line of the car and above t-he lower flange of the Z-bar 22 and hence said pins are not likely to be struck by anything to their injury.

As is shown in the drawings, the crankarms 26, 27 and links 24 are opposite to the spaces between the iianges 19 of the vertical angle-plates or beams 17 and partly enter said spaces when turned upwardly to close the doors 14, stops 37 being provided within said spaces to receive the impact of said crank-arms and links when they are turned upwardly and arrest them in proper and effective position to hold said doors closed. 'Vhen the crank-arms 26, 27 and links 24 are in their upper position, the center line of the links is inwardly beyond the center line of the crank-arms or in other words the. links will have been carried inwardly beyond the center of the operating shaft or beyond the dead-center of the operating mechanism, and under this condition the crank-arms and links are enabled to effectually resist any tendency of the doors 14 and the load upon them to turn the crankarms outwardly in a direction permitting the doors to open but on thel contrary the weight of the doors and the load upon them will act through the links to hold the crank arms firmly againstl the stops 37. When the operating shaft is manually turned to throw the crank-arms 26, 27 outwardly in a direction from the side of the car, said arms will carry the upper ends of the links 24 with them, and after the links have passed outwardly beyond the center of the operating shaft the weight of the doors and the load upon them will force the doors to their open position. The crank-arms 26, 27 and links 24 being'on plane between adjacent edges of adjacent doors do not cross the path of the discharge fromthe doors. In the construction presented by me the links 24 are between the pairs of crank-arms 26, 27 respectively.

Lach operating shaft 25is at its outer end, at the end of the car, equipped with a toothed or ratchet wheel 38 having integrally on its outer face a plate member 39 from whose outer portion project oppositely disposed lugs 40 of known character in this art. with a bar to facilitate the rotation of the operating shaft 25 in the closing of the doors 14 and also in starting the doors on their opening movement. The toothed wheel 38 is employed in connection with a pivoted pawl 41, which when the doors 14 are in closed position will by its engagement with said wheel, lock the operating shaft 25 against rotary movement.r In order to prevent the jarring of the car during travel from causing the pawl' 41 to release the wheel 38, I provide a pivoted locking dog 42 to engage said pawl and hold it firmly against the said wheel. lWhen it is desired to open the doors 14, the dog 42 will be turned upwardly from the pawl 41 and the The lugs 40 are utilized in connection wheel 38, and thereupon the hook 43 on the `dog will be caused to engage the lug 44 on the pawl for the purpose of holding the pawl free of said Wheel and permitting the convenient rotation of the operating shaft in a direction to open the doors 14. When the doors 14 have again been closed the hook 43; will be released from the lug 44, the pawl 41 allowed to pass into engagement with the wheel 38 and the dog 42 permittedA to turn downwardly against the pawl.

A car constructed and equipped with floor-doors and door-operating mechanism as hereinbefore described possesses many advantages with respect to simplicity and strength and the convenience with which the doors may be operated and their operating mechanism applied, inspected and generally cared for.

lVhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A side-dumping car having transverse floor discharge doors extending outwardly beyond the sides of the car and connected in series at their outer ends, a longitudinal operating shaft mounted in bearings setoutwardly from the side of the car and having inverted Ushaped portions affording crank-arms in pairs contiguous to adjacent separated side edges of said doors, and links interposed between the members ot said pairs of crank-arms pivotally connecting said doors with said shaft intermediate said crank-arms, said crank-arms in the closed position of the doors being extended upwardly on inclined lines toward the side of the car and holding said links with their center-line inwardly beyond the main center-line of said shaft.

2. A side-dumping car having transverse floor discharge doors extending outwardly beyond the sides of the car and connected in series at their outer ends, an integral longitudinal operating shaft mounted in bearings set outwardly from the side of the car and having inverted U-shaped portions affording crank-arms in pairs contiguous to adjacent separated side edges of said doors, and links interposed between the members of said pairs of crank-arms pivotally connecting said doors below the floor line thereof with said shaft intermediate said crank-arms, said crank-arms in the closed position of the doors being extended upwardly on inclined lines toward the side of the car and holding said links with their center-line inwardly beyond the main center-line of said shaft.

3. A side-dumping car having transverse floor discharge doors extending outwardly beyond the sides of the car and connected in series at their outer ends, floor members between the side edges of adjacent doors, a longitudinal operating shaft mounted in bearings set outwardly from the side of the car and having laterally extending crank-arms in pairs contiguous to adjacent separated side edges of said doors, links interposed between the members of said pairs of crank-arms pivotally connecting said doors with the outer ends of said crankarms, and vertical angle beams secured in pairs to the sides of the car in line with the said floor members and receiving between their transversely extending flanges (19) said crank-arms and links in the closed position of said doors.

4. In a side-dumping car, transverse Hoor discharge doors having downwardly flanged outer edges, a bar secured to said downwardly flanged portions of the doors and connecting the doors in series and having a flange extending outwardly beyond the edges of the doors, a longitudinal operating shaft mounted in bearings set outwardly from the side of the car and having inverted U-shaped portions affording crank-arms in pairs contiguous to adjacent separated side edges of said doors, and links interposed between the members of said pairs of crankarms pivotally connected with said shaft intermediate said crank-arms and with said outwardly extending flange of said doorconnecting bar, said crank-arms in the closed position of said doors being extended upwardly on inclined lines toward the side ot' the car and holding said links with their center-line inwardly beyond the main center line ol said shaft.

5. ln a side-dumping car, transverse floor discharge doors, a Z-bar secured to the outer edges of said doors and connecting the same in series and having a lower flange extending outwardly beyond said doors and below the same, eye-bolts secured upon said lower flange, a longitudinal operating shaft mounted in bearings set outwardly from the side of the car and having crank-arms contiguous to adjacent separated side edges of said doors, and links pivotally connected at their lower ends with said eyebolts and at their upper ends with said crank-arms, said crank-arms in the closed position of said doors being extended upwardly on inclined lines toward the side of the car and holding said links with their center-line inwardly beyond the main center line of said shaft.

6. In a side-dumping car, transverse plate floor discharge doors flanged downwardly at their side and outer edges, transverse floor members between and overlapping the side edges of adjacent doors, a Z-bar secured to the outer edges of said doors and connecting the same in series and having a lower flange extending outwardly beyond said doors and below the same, eye-bolts secured upon said lower flange, a longitudinal operating shaft mounted in bearings set' Signed at New York city, in the county outwardly from the side of the car and havof New York and State of New York7 this ing crank-arms contiguous to adjacent sepa- 3rd day of April A. D. 1911. rated side edges of said doors, and links EDWARD D. HILLMAN. pivotally connected at their lower ends with Witnesses:

said eye-bolts and at their upper ends with CHAS. GILL, said crank-arms. ARTHUR MARION.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, d

Washington, D. C. 

